Film Illiterate, wherein the proprietor records movies seen, and sporadic progress through assorted lists of the "best". Originally started after regretfully renting something forgettable for the third time. I've forgotten what, but never again! A tedious endeavour since 2005. Hello. 🙂
Ghost Dog was my first Jim Jarmusch experience, before I'd even heard the name. Expecting urban ninja action, it was a disappointment: there were moments of brilliance -- an alternate-universe Jarmusch could do well in action movies -- buried in philosophy and dialogue, some quiet and more unsaid.
Ghost Dog's (Forest Whitaker) life as an assassin for Mafioso Louie (John Tormey) is cut by intertitles drawn from Hagakure, "The Book of the Samurai"; he lives and works by it. The title of the movie should have clued me in: it's about the way of the samurai, about living in accordance with its principles.
Or, perhaps, it's about the extinction of principled men, whether they live by samurai ethics or crime-family loyalty. It wouldn't be an interesting film if it was straightforwardly "about" anything, though, but the explicit Rashomon connection suggests the reason why it is -- there are multiple perspectives here, multiple stories intersecting. Multiple ways.
Don't see it for the spectacle; see it for the discussion afterwards.